The Doctor's Daughter?
by love-peace-choir-svu
Summary: The Doctor and River come across a young girl on one of their adventures. Who is she? Who are the people that are out to get her? Why do they want her? And where have they taken Amy and Rory?
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first Doctor Who fic! If anything is confusing I will try to explain it, also dont hate me if the charecters dont act completely as they do in the show and let me know why you think so. I love reviews please send them my way. :)**

River Song lived for moments like these she applied her hallucinogenic lipstick and rushed out of her cell. She kissed the first two guards to come near her easily and squarely on the lips. The next guards to arrive were smarter, they didn't risk getting too close and began to fire at her from a moderate distance. River reached the tardis quickly after the firing began and smiled at the Doctor. She shut the tardis doors quickly and she let out a barely out of breath greeting, "Hello Sweetie."

He pressed a few buttons on the tardis then he crossed the platform to meet her.

He raised his arm up and wiped off the remainder of her hallucinogenic lipstick with his sleeve. Then he pressed his lips softly on hers. "Hello River", he said pulling slightly back, but keeping his face only inches from hers.

"Where are we going today, Sweetie?" she questioned him. She hadn't been expecting a visit from him today. Not that she objected, quite honestly she was overjoyed to hear the TARDIS materializing in Stormcage and had ran not because of the on coming guards but because she got the chance to see him. (not that she would ever say it aloud)

"No where in particular, I thought we'd just see where we ended up", he finally broke away from her to stand at the tardis core, "Old girl always takes us to where we need to be."

"That she does." River responded as the tardis began to materialize. She popped her head out of the door and smiled.

"Lovely, Leadworth around 2017 fairly close to where your parents live we should pop over for a bit.", the doctor said wrapping an arm around River's waist as they stood in the doorway.

"Yeah, okay I'll just go change into something more appropriate for the year 2017."

The doctor smiled, "No problem, love. I'll wait right here." He fell into the captains chair with a huff. River blew him a kiss and headed towards the tardis wardrobe. He could tell he was dealing with an older River by the way she acted around him, even by her smile. Rassilon, he loved that smile he could spend days just trying to get her to-

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud banging on the tardis doors, he smiled as he jumped up to answer the door. "Amy we were just on our-"

"DADDY, DADDY. WHERE ARE YOU?", the Doctor heard a young girl scream from the other side. He ran the next few steps and opened the door to a sobbing child who looked very young. She couldn't have been old enough to be walking around town on her own. She looked so lost that the doctor knew he had to help her.

He smiled down at the young girl, "Sorry little girl", he was interrupted by the small girl wrapping her arms around his legs," there are no daddies on board here", he said opening the door a little wider so she could look in.

"Daddy", she sobbed into his trousers, "Daddy they took them, they're gone."

"Hey, there there now,", he patted the dark ringlets atop her head,"who did they take and who are they, maybe I can help you."

"Grandmum and granddad", she whispered between sobs. She was growing quite irritated that the Doctor had no clue what was happening. She thought that maybe her mum would be able to understand her, she always could.

Just as the young girl was thinking this River stepped back into view.

"Mummy", the small girl said as she sprang at her stepping around the doctor in the process. New tears filled her eyes as she wrapped herself around a different set of legs.

River looked to the doctor unsure of what to do. The doctor simply shrugged at her and shifted closer to where River and the young girl stood.

"Okay how about we take a little trip, you should show us the place where your Grandmum and granddad went missing. We will try to help you find them", River suggested. Neither the Doctor nor River knew how to explain to the little girl that they weren't her parents and they assumed that she only thought that they were because of extreme trauma.

"C'mon, then what do you say", the doctor smiled at her and kneeled to get closer to her eye level.

"M'kay", she said pulling away from River, wrapping her arms around the doctors neck, and lying her head in the space between his shoulder and neck. The doctor warmed at the contact , it wasn't that he didn't have the heart to shrug her off (although that was part of it). There was also something about the way she fit into his arms and the crook of his neck like she sort of belonged there. He didn't object to the contact, but he simply ushered River out of the TARDIS before him.

"Geronimo."

XXXXX

Outside of the tardis the Doctor and River realized they had no idea where they were going.

"Which way is it sweetie", River song said gently.

"Well how should I know-", the Doctor started," oh you meant, okay."

The little girl lifted her hand and pointed down towards the end of the street they were already on, the same street as Amy and Rory. The little girl had stopped sobbing but tears still flowed freely down her cheeks. She had also quit speaking, she could sense that something was wrong with her parents she just couldn't understand it. They reached the end of the street and the small girl tucked herself closer to the doctor partially covering herself with his jacket.

"Which house",River asked taking the lead, she could see the thoughts in the doctors head were starting to click into place. They were thoughts she had already had but they needed to be confirmed. The girl raised a slender arm and pointed at a blue house. Amy and Rory's blue house.

The doctor passed the small girl to River and whipped out his sonic. He would have time to let all the news sink into his head later now he needed to look for Amy and Rory.

River waited patiently for the doctor to scan the house for alien tech/life, and after finding only small leftover particles he gave the all clear. The girl who had settled into the curve of River's left hip flinched slightly at the thought of returning to the house where her grandparents had been taken.

"What did you find?", River asked as she approached him.

"Lots of spoilers", he said staring at the small child on River's hip, "and also some small traces of alien technology that is long gone. I'll have to wait for the tardis to give me a full analysis." The Doctor didn't elaborate on the things he had seen. The pictures of the three of them laughing, the little girl sitting atop his own shoulders as River looked on and held his hand. Pictures of wonderful moments that hadn't even happened yet.

XXXXX

"So little one let's start from the beginning. What's your name?" the Doctor asked.

The little girl was getting confused when he talked and smiled like this he reminded her of her daddy, but her daddy knew her name. He was after all the one who named her.

"Ava Amelia Song", the girl said .

"What a brilliant name, absolutely fantastic", he smiled.

This caused Ava to smile too but not wholeheartedly, how could two people who looked so much like her mum and dad be so... not.

"Ava sweetie what happened today", River wanted to be direct and not waste any time finding her own mum and dad. Ava paused as if to gather her thoughts and River took a moment to glance around.

The first picture she saw startled her it was a picture of herself and the little girl when she was just a baby. It was a beautiful black and white picture in a tardis blue frame. In the picture River stood holding Ava who looked to be no more than a few months old they were so close that their noses touched and the connection they shared seemed to jump straight from the picture and into River's heart. She had no memory of this girl, not her birth, not her first steps, or even her first words, but Ava was hers and she realized in those few seconds that she would give her life to protect her.

"Mummy, do you think we will find them?" Ava asked then, pulling River into the conversation that had continued during her lapse.

"I believe so", River said pulling Ava, who had been sitting right beside her, onto her lap. River wasn't truly sure that they would find them, they didn't even know who took them. But she did hope that they would be able to find her parents, soon. Ava was placed in their care and they had no doubt protected her with their lives, causing themselves to be taken in the process. River looked into Ava's green eyes, they were the same color as hers, and brushed her hair behind her ear, "I hope so."

The Doctor looked on at what felt like a very private mother and daughter moment. He wondered what had changed in River's attitude about the girl. He stared at River as she pulled the girl onto her lap and brushed her hair back behind her tiny ears with the tips of her fingers. The girl seemed to have both notice and accept the change, but the doctor couldn't understand it.

River looked up from Ava to find that the the Doctor was starring at her, at the two of them together this way. River guessed that it would take a bit longer for his paternal instincts to kick in. He had been a father and that had been taken away from him. Twice. With jenny it had been bad, he didn't acknowledge her until the end, until it was too late all because he was afraid of losing another child. He had put up walls around that instinct, even in this regeneration they were there. He hadn't accepted Ava as his own daughter yet, she was just another adventure at the moment.

River looked down at Ava she looked so tired, as if she was forcing her eyes to stay opened. River stood and the Doctor copied her, "We should go we don't know if they will come back for her", River said growing increasingly worried by the end of the sentence. She could only hope that she was wrong.

** Where are Amy and Rory? :o Look forward to the return of an awesome charecter for the next chapter. If you put this symbol '*' at the end of your review i will send you a message telling you who it is. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

_**I am having so much fun writing this story I hope you are enjoying it too. I will update this weekly!**_

Ava snuggled up against River's neck which only partially guarded her from the cold night air. The doctor noticed this and grabbed Ava from River so she could be fully protected from the cold under his jacket. The walk wasn't very long but he didn't want River to have to carry Ava the entire way. Ava smiled and pulled herself closer to her daddy as he pulled his jacket around her.

He reached over and grabbed River's free hand as they walked. She was holding something in her other hand, but he couldn't quite make out what it was in the darkness. It was most likely something she had picked up in the house. Something dangerously riddled with spoilers, but hopefully not anything too dangerous.

They came up to the TARDIS and the Doctor took his hand from River's to open the doors with a snap of his fingers. She loved it when he did that. But River wasn't paying much attention to him, rather she was looking at the beautiful girl in his arms. In the golden light of the TARDIS she could see Ava perfectly well. She had fallen asleep during the short walk. Her head was in the crook of the Doctors neck, her arms limp at her sides, and the lapels of the doctors jacket were around her. River smiled and lead the doctor by the hand down the TARDIS corridors. A door appeared in front of them and she pushed it open. It was a room made for Ava. It was purple and pink which made it appear to be a girls room but not overly so, it even had her name in a neon light above her bed. River wondered if the TARDIS had created the room or pulled it from future records where she had decorated and saved the room into the TARDIS core. It was likely the latter since the designs pointed toward her own making. She couldn't help the soft smile that spread across her face when the Doctor laid Ava into the bed. He was perfect with her but she could still see the traces of unsure ness in his eyes. He still couldn't see her not really, not in the way that river did.

The Doctor twined his fingers in with River's as they made their way back to the tardis console. The Doctor plugged his sonic into an outlet next to the TARDIS scanner. It said that it could take up to seven hours for complete results.

"Fantastic", the Doctor said sourly.

"We'll just have to wait on the results then. It won't take forever.", River said. For a 900 year old time lord the Doctor certainly was impatient.

The Doctor sighed and wiggled the scanner on it's base. The loading symbol didn't speed up. It was going to be a long seven hours. River noticed the look of concentration in his eyes, he wouldn't be moving from his spot any time soon. She decided that she would try to rest (like it was possible with her parents having been kidnapped). She slipped on the first pyjamas that she found in the TARDIS wardrobe. They fit her nicely and they were a perfect sky blue. River paused as she exited the wardrobe, the door that had materialized before her wasn't her own. But she recognized it, it was Ava's River pushed the door open quietly. She was careful not to wake the sleeping girl inside. River crossed the room silently risking a small glance to where Ava was sleeping peacefully as she placed the tardis blue framed picture on Ava's dresser. It was the picture she had taken from her parents future home. She hoped the Doctor wouldn't mind. It was only a small glimpse of the future certainly not large enough to cause a large paradox...Right?

The Doctor sat in the console room alone River had left him around two hours ago. She was probably asleep by now he guessed since she hadn't come back. River didn't need much sleep though, since she was partially a time lord she only needed around 5-6 hours of sleep to function. The Doctor only needed around that many hours a week. River is partially a time lord. He himself was a full time lord. What about Ava? If she really was their daughter how would her genes be made up. From previous testing he knew that River was around 65% time lord. Ava's genes would've been a mix of both the Doctors and River's genes but certainly more closely related to his time lord genes. He guessed that she would be roughly 80 % timelord and the rest of the way human. "Not Bad", he said aloud to himself. He still wanted to know more about her. The doctor glanced at the scanner in front of him. He still had hours to go until the TARDIS would give him the results on the residual alien tech he had found. He picked up the medical scanner that River always kept and made his way towards Ava's room. He opened the door carefully he didn't want to wake her up. He smiled when he saw River sleeping in the pink rocking chair a few feet away from Ava's bed. He took in the sight of her a yellow blanket cast over the lower half of her body, her arms folded across her middle, she was absolutely beautiful. He took the med scanner and turned it on it was a bit louder than he expected and its deep hum filled the previously silent room. He looked up and found that River had woken, she had always been a light sleeper. She stared at him and he could tell she wanted to know what was going on. He looked down at Ava who was thankfully still sleeping. He quickly passed the med scanner over Ava's entire body and glanced up at River silently asking her to follow him. River followed him out into the hallway and shut the door.

"What did you do?", she asked, she was fully awake now and curious as to what the Doctor was up to.

"Just a quick med scan is all, I didn't mean to wake you I didn't know it was so loud", he said smiling at her.

"Of course not", she rolled her eyes playfully.

"Well Ava slept through it."

"Ava sleeps like her dad."

The Doctor chuckled, " Why must you insist that I am such a heavy sleeper!"

"Because you are", River couldn't help but laugh along with him," don't you remember the quake on planet Evonylisium 37."

"Its not my fault I slept through it I hadn't slept in a month even time lords need their sleep."

"Speaking of time lords and sleep why is Ava still asleep if she is mostly time lord."

"She is only a child, but when she is older her sleeping patterns will look more like mine than yours. Here take a look." the doctor handed River her med scanner and started off towards the TARDIS console pulling River along by the hand.

River glanced over the full compilation of her daughter's medical background. "Her biology is much closer to yours than mine, she's 80% time lord. It says she was born here on the TARDIS, but it doesn't say when-"

"I had it to block out all of the dates foreknowledge is a dangerous thing", he said grimacing.

"Okay then", River continued with the list, "It also says she is 7 years old. Wow really, I would have guessed that she was around 5 I wonder why who looks so yo-", River was cut off by an amused smirk from the Doctor," What? Oh. Oh of course time lord biology."

The Doctor stiffed a laugh at River's lapse. He took a seat on the captains chair and was pleased when River jumped at the chance to snuggle up against him. He ran his fingers through her thick curls. "She has hair sort of like yours", he said to her, "did you notice?"

"Yeah I did notice that, the hair coloring is closer to yours this regeneration though."

"Oi, i used to be a blond, i didn't look half bad either." he said in mock offence and continued to play with her hair.

They continued like this barely moving, unless it was to get closer to the other, for a long while. They talked about where they were in each others time lines, how long they had been apart (it was always too long), and what they were going to do to find Amy and Rory. The last one was at the moment a moot point, they could do nothing to help Amy and Rory at the moment because the still knew nothing about their captors.

River looked up into the Doctors eyes for reassurance, she needed to know that they would find her parents and that they would be safe. The Doctor provided just that and leaned in to place a soft kiss on her lips. Just as she was starting to lean into the kiss she heard something behind her. Ava walked into the room unaffected by the closeness of her parents besides the small grimace on her mouth. River took this as a good sign apparently they still had a very close relationship in the future, the Doctor smiled her way as if he knew what she was thinking. Ava paused for a second in front of them before stepping closer to wiggle into the small space between them. They both moved aside some to allow her space in the middle. River reached her hand up to tidy up Ava's dark curls. Just then a loud beep came from the TARDIS scanner.

"Ah, brilliant", the Doctor said jumping up to get the results.

"What do they say", River asked worriedly when he reached them.

"Nothing", the Doctor replied flatly.

"Is it really that bad?" River's worry started to gradually increase.

"No", the doctor said, astonished, " They actually say nothing." He turned the paper towards her so she could see."'More information needed to form conclusion', SEVEN HOURS FOR THIS."

Ava jumped and cringed into River at her Father's sudden change in vocal tone.

"It's fine, its fine", River said trying to calm the both of them, "We can go back to Mum and Dads house for more info."

"Don't know how safe it will be", he gestured to Ava with his chin. River was pleased that he was thinking about Ava and her safety but she didn't show it.

"Just as safe as last night, I guess,. We haven't gone any where."

"Actually we've been floating in the time vortex. I didn't want to stick around afterwards to see who turned up."

"Smart plan, lets head back. Try to get us there within 12 hours after we left." she said standing up and pulling Ava up alongside her.

"What you're not going to fly her today" the Doctor said jokingly.

"Any other day I would be more than happy to make sure we arrived in the right spot at the correct time but Ava and I should go get dressed." River smiled at the Doctor playfully. Ava smiled too and took her Mums hand to lead her to the TARDIS wardrobe.

The Doctor landed the TARDIS perfectly(he would have to brag about this to river)and took a look outside. He'd landed about 10 hours after they had left the first time. Fantastic. The Doctor stood this way waiting until River and Ava exited the wardrobe. River was wearing a TARDIS blue sun dress that reached right down to her knee length black boots and she also wore a blue jean half jacket. She was stunning. Ava had put on more mellow colors she wore a light pink sun dress with a pale yellow belt and pale yellow converse. She looked adorable the doctor thought to himself.

"Converse?", the Doctor questioned.

"Converse are cool.", she said with a huge grin.

"Yes, Yes of course they are what was I thinking. That is obviously something that you picked up from a previous regeneration." As he said this he took whole of both Ava's and River's hands and pulled them out of the door.

The Doctor moved around the Pond house more comfortably than he had the previous night. He was almost positive that the treat was gone. He passed through the kitchen and grabbed two bananas and an apple. He knew that River disliked the taste of bananas, but he hoped that Ava had nothing against them. He walked into the living room and passed the banana and apple to them respectively. He whipped out his sonic to start scanning and took a huge bite out of his banana. Ava did the same with hers. All three of them jumped when they heard the noise. It was loud. the Doctor glanced toward River and Ava. Getting them out safely in case of a threat would be his first priority. He motioned to River and she came closer Ava right on her heels. She was frightened. More so than a child who had ' seen nothing' would normally be in this situation. The doctor saved this information for future reference and silently headed for the stairs. River stopped following him at the bottom step but the Doctor continued towards the door at the top of the stairs. He could hear a small amount of activity behind the it. As he reached out for the door handle he risked a glance back to where River was standing her hand gripping the blue plasma gun she kept at her side. He could just barely see Ava behind Rivers legs, if the need came she would be able to run with her mom back to the TARDIS and fly away. She would be able to keep her safe. The Doctor shifted his weight on the step and heard the loud squeak it gave. He and River cringed internally. The activity behind the door increased. The door opened quickly and suddenly there was a young blond haired girl holding a plasma gun in the doctors face. The blue plasma gun looked sort of familiar. And so did the person holding it.

"Dad?"

"Jenny? How?" the doctor was genuinely stunned.

Jenny seemed to be almost as stunned as he was her eyes filled with tears as she wrapped her arms around his neck. When she did this she was able to see behind him.

"Mum", she exclaimed.

Now it was Rivers turn to be confused. She stepped forward to question her and when she did she opened up Ava's line of vision. Ava took off up the stairs. "Jenny"she exclaimed as she jumped into her arms.

"Avie", she said breathing in the scent of her, her tears flowing freely now,"I thought they had taken you too."

The doctor tore his eyes away from the two of them long enough to glance behind Jenny. The room she had been in was a library on the floor there were many photo books of the four of them as a family. Some of the pictures also had the ponds in them but most were of their small four person family. Ava, Jenny River and the doctor.

"Dad we have to find them", Jenny said tearing the Doctor's attention away from the tons of spoilers in the next room. "We have to." her voice broke the second time she said it.

"Of course we'll find them, now tell me what you know. Both of you."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey you guise I know its been forever since I've updated this story and I'm so sorry that I haven't been updating regularly. My life has been really hectic especially in the last couple months. With my school work, depression, lack of motivation, and very intensive out-patient therapy I haven't found the time or will to get this chapter written and uploaded. Anyway enough of my excuses. **

River, Jenny and Ava sat on the only couch in the Pond's living room. Watching the Doctor, pace back and forth in front of them, his face a hard grimace. Both Jenny and Ava recognized the truculent facial expression he wore as one that should not be disturbed. Watching him eagerly they waited for the mask to fade.

Ava was the first to speak, "Daddy?" she whispered. The doctor didn't miss a beat. Seemingly unaware of the child who had called him he continued to pace in front of them. River mused over what might have been going on in his mind. Her parents were just as important to him as they were to her. They shed light on the lonely implacable existence of a time lord. Offering light and hope to the darkness that River could only augment. If her parents were a torch in the night, then River Song was the shadow cast right alongside it.

"Mum", Jenny's voice broke her form her reverie, "River, we have to get him to to say something, Talk to him he'll respond to you." She would have said something more if she had not been interrupted with a loud "Shhh, Thinking," from the Doctor. Jenny decided to waive the matter for the moment, but River did not want to forgo the talk between all four of them. It was inevitable.

"Doctor, Doctor we have to talk about this." He had continued pacing as she talked. "Please.." It was this word that stopped him in his tracts. His head snapped up to meet her eyes. River Song never begged for anything (almost never he amended in his head with an almost invisible smile.)

"Okay", he said slowly his small smile growing, "First things first. You're dead." As he said this he pulled Jenny up into an airtight hug breathing in the scent of her again until she mumbled slightly. " What was that Jenny?" he asked with his arms loosening the tiniest bit.

"Dad. Can't. Breathe." She gasped.

He offered an apology as he quickly let her go. "How are you here alive? You are alive aren't you?" At this he pulled out his sonic screwdriver for a simple cursory exam. "Yes definitely living. Double heartbeat, working respiratory bypass, and not made of flesh. This is wonderful but you still haven't answered my first question. 'How?'"

"Well you haven't given me the chance, but now that you have. I regenerated Weeell", she stretched the word out just as he had in his tenth regeneration," not technically I still have the same body save the bullet hole. Which I can definitely live without."

" How are you? How old are you? When did you find me again?" He said in the excited manner he usually had when something sparked his interest which was often.

"I'm seven years old, took me three years to find you. But we've been traveling around the universe ever since I found you again. That makes four years now, that we've been running, throughout all of time and space just like you said we would. But not always together."

"Like now?"

Jenny didn't respond to the question aloud but she simply shook her head. She knew that foreknowledge was dangerous. It could cause ripples throughout all of time if it was powerful enough. But could she really keep this from her Mum and Dad and not put the entire family in jeopardy at the same time. She was torn in two about the entire decision. She was saved from making the choice for the moment when Ava had a sudden comment.

"We're the same age Jenny." She said a bit too loudly. Her extreme excitement by the newly given information was so profound that the adults in the room coild do nothing but giggle.

"Yeah we are the same age Avie, but you know what?" Ava shook her head causing her dark curls to swing around her face. " I'm older." Ava seemed as if she was about to correct her on the impossibility of the situation when Jenny said, "Time is wibbly wobbly."

"Wibbly wobbly timey wimey." Ava reiterated, she sounded so much like his tenth regeneration. The phrase had become a sort of inside joke between Jenny and Ava when they had found their dad's old videos of himself taken when the TARDIS had been stolen from him.

It Was amazing, the doctor mused, how much they had gotten from his previous regeneration. When he thought back he could definitely see how strong both his physical characteristic traits were back then and how different he was from most of his other forms. The brown eyes, pretty-boy face, AMAZING HAIR, distinct need for companionship and love, and also the weirdest, coolest jargon. Oh how he had hated to see that body go when he regenerated and found that he was no longer the slim, sexy, pretty-boy that he had been on New Earth, the Titanic II, Midnight, or even the Planet of the Ood. AND HE STILL WASN'T GINGER! But this body was good too, had a new everything, even a new set of hands that seemed as if they were made to fit River's. A hand to hold that made living through everything else just a bit more bearable.

He forced his mind back to the present which he had to admit was not a very pleasant place to be. His ponds were missing and he was sure that Jenny, if not both his daughters, was hiding something from him. Something that could only add to the ominous chain of events that had already taken place.

The Doctor moved to stand over Ava, River, and Jenny as they sat eyes glued to him from the couch. His face was neither angry nor the playful mask he usually wore, it was almost calm with a hint of a smile at the corners. Jenny was taken aback by the expression and River took it to be the Doctor's take on fatherly affection, but Ava recognized the look right away, she had seen it a thousand times before. Her father wanted something from them likely information. Ava sighed and glanced toward Jenny with a look of exasperation. Jenny, however, had just grasped the meaning of the expression on their father's face. She stared straight ahead with her teeth biting hard into her lower lip. Worried, Ava noted, she definitely looks worried. Ava felt her own teeth graze her lips now. Although she had nothing to hide maybe her sister did.


	4. Chapter 4

** Hey you guys. i know it's been a long while since I've updated this fic. Life's been kind of hectic. This is going to be a really short chapter sorry. But i****t will kick start some of the action I want to take place. thanks for all the lovely reviews they mean alot. :)**

* * *

Ava took her time answering the few questions the doctor had for her though they were all very simple. She wanted to give her older sister time to decrease whatever anxiety she had, to put on a good front to keep the doctor from noticing what she had Ava kept all of his attention on her. The doctor was unaware of the game that Ava continued to play with him during his inquiry, but River was definitely more observant. She noticed that though Ava answered each question truthfully she would take up more time than was necessary. River searched the room for a reason why Ava was behaving so, she did not have to look any further than Jenny whose face was distraught with worry. "Of course, she's sticking up for her big sister." river muttered under her breath so low that she thought no one could hear her. Jenny's ears pricked up at the unexpected murmur however and there eyes met. Jenny's facial expression grew even more visibly worried and she looked away from river as quickly as possible. River left the matter alone for now and focused on the interrogation taking place before her. Thanks to Ava's expert procrastination skills they were just now reaching a point where the information found could be incredibly useful.

"Where were you when this happened Ava?" the doctor asked, River assumed he was speaking of the kidnapping of her mum and dad.

"I was in my safe place. It was really dark."

Both the doctor and River raised their eyebrows quizzically and Jenny, now thoroughly composed, took the liberty to explain. "she has a small room to hide in incase of events much like the ones that have happened here. Its right upstairs. You may have saw it Dad, about the size of a small cupboard. Don't worry though it's-"

Everyone in the family joined in to say those four words that excited every timelord, " bigger on the inside." Ava laughed at their redundancy and the sound was so rich and teeming with innocence that even in this time of distress everyone joined in.

The Doctor was the first to break away from their unified laughter,"Did you see any scary looking people from your safe place, Ava?"

"I-I don't remember." Ava said shakily. It was quite obvious to both River and the Doctor that something was wrong.

The doctor decided to try once more, "Surely you must have looked out. Curiosity is deeply ingrained into every timelord. Your dad especially"

"I-I looked i just.. can't remember." Ava's eyes squinted and a look of deep concentration passed over her features before she sighed and looked at the Doctor. "I don't remember anything daddy."

"No", River whispered quietly." This can't be, it can't."

As three heads turned her way, her childhood flashed before her eyes. Scared, alone, unloved, unwanted every emotion that was tied to Madame Kovarian and her lost childhood. Pain that was all she new during her early years with the silence, pain that she never wanted for her daughter.

She stared into the Doctor's eyes searching for some sign that he understood what was going on here. The gravity of the situation, 'she doesn't remember'. She had to speak the words aloud for the both of them, to make him understand, to let herself accept it that the silence may have been after her daughter and they might be back. "Doctor she doesn't remember Ava doesn't remember her attackers."

She waited for recognition to sweep over his face but it didn't come. Instead a long forgotten memory crept up into the forefront of her mind. The image was of the doctor his words echoed around her. "Even information about these creatures deletes itself over time."

"We have to go", River said already planning ahead trying to find ways to jump start the Doctor's memories once they were aboard the TARDIS. River grabbed Ava's hand and looked up at the Doctor who seemed to be the most confused of the three. With the confused look still on his face he rose to grasp River's free hand and let himself be pulled along beside her. Jenny too had wordlessly stood to follow River as she left the house headed for the TARDIS.

Everyone was silent as they walked down the street River threw overly careful glances to each side and quickened her pace. 'They could be here I could have seen them. What if they are watching?', she allowed her mind to think over the frightening possibilities. They reached the TARDIS without incident and River quickly set the TARDIS to drift through the time vortex the safest option at the moment. When she finished fiddling with the control panel she looked into the doctor's eyes allowing him to see the fear, anxiety, and tears that had welled up in her own. He quickly rounded the console and wrapped her in his arms.

She let him hold her there, soaking in his calm and collected atmosphere As she blinked away the tears. He pulled away all to soon and looked into he eyes."What brings us back here, Dr. Song?"

" The Silence." The unexpected answer came from behind him and he turned to face the person it belonged to, Jenny.

River went from joy that someone else in the room knew what was going on to anger in less than three seconds. "You knew", she all but screamed at Jenny who made and effort not to take a few steps back from her anger.

"Who is 'the silence'? And what makes them think they're so tough?", the doctor asked trying to avoid as much conflict as he could.

"A group. The fact that you don't remember the last time we saw them", River said avoiding the waste of time and trying not to think of the irony of doing so.

"But why would I remember them I've never even heard of them let alone met one of them."

"But you have," River said becoming exhausted by the topic already. River got quiet for a moment silently willing the doctor's memories of the silence to return and thinking of ways to bring the memories back that weren't too forceful. She then remembered that there were picture of silence in the TARDIS database and quickly crossed over to it. Three heads turned her way as she hit one final button, quite forcefully.

"Well?", the doctor asked.

"Turn around sweetie." The Doctor did as River told him and turned in place he gasped when he came face to face with a projection of a silence all of his previous knowledge of them coming back to memory. Beside him he felt Ava just turning around to face the projected monster. He turned his head slightly to look at her just before she let out a horrifying scream.


End file.
